Last year, when London Public Library launched its inaugural One Book One London campaign, it did so with Canada’s 150th birthday in mind.

Etta and Otto and Russell and James, by Emma Hooper, dealt largely with the theme of journeys — both literal and figurative — across the broad expanse of Canada’s geography and of human experience.

The intent of the One Book One London initiative, of course, was to focus the attention of readers across the city on a single book and what meanings might be found in it, giving us at least one common literary experience amid the din of the increasingly personalized signal-noise with which we surround ourselves.

The little sesquicentennial project went well enough. Hundreds of Londoners checked out Hooper’s fable and participated in public and private discussion groups.

This year, the library’s selection is Brother, a taut and emotional tale told with elegance, beauty and precision by Vancouver-based David Chariandy. And with that choice, the library very intentionally shifted One Book’s focus from whimsical imagination to social awareness.

Brother explores themes that many Londoners choose to avoid but about which we need to have deeper conversations: racism, poverty, identity, belonging, aspirations and the roadblocks that short-circuit their fulfilment.

The novel tells the story of Ruth, a Trinidadian-born mother who brings her two sons, Francis and Michael, to Scarborough, where they must come of age amid a densely packed landscape of apartment towers and strip malls. The boys’ father is absent; their mother pays the bills by working double and triple shifts as a cleaner. And, always it seems, the world around them conspires against the realization of Ruth’s dream for her sons: that they live good lives or, at least, lives that are not wasted.

Given the very public conversations Londoners have had during the past year or two about how deep and stubborn the tap root of racism is in the city, it’s a timely read.

And an entirely deliberate choice.

“Our community is starting to talk about the fact that London has a lot of issues around equality and racialization,” said Carolyn Doyle, London Public Library’s co-ordinator of adult services. “This year, we wanted to choose a story reflective of the world around us; of the important conversations that are happening.” The choice of Chariandy’s Brother wasn’t Doyle’s alone. In fact, it was carefully distributed.

After all, the death knell for any community-wide dialogue about racism, inequality and privilege would have been for a white, middle-class and privileged librarian from an established public institution to impose a literary title on the city, recommend reading and discussion, then close the book on the process.

Doyle and her colleagues were determined to avoid that trap.

Chariandy’s novel was vetted by an 18-member reading team with both professional and lived experiences with the impacts of racial bias, discrimination, inequality and poverty. Among them were individuals connected to the city’s diversity office, South London Neighbourhood Resource Centre, Cross Cultural Learner Centre, LUSO Community Services and individuals within London’s various ethnic and racial communities.

“Those discussions behind the scenes were so important,” Doyle said.

And the work of the reading team didn’t end with the selection of the novel. Many have committed to take part as co-facilitators, with library staff, at discussion groups around the city. (Several such meetings have already been held. At least seven more are planned before April 10. See the web page at lpl.ca/onebook for details.) Chariandy will visit for a talk and discussion at the Wolf Performance Hall on April 16. Meanwhile, the library is monitoring demand for the book closely and will respond if demand for paper and electronic copies seriously outstrips supply.

Brother is a compact and multi-layered tale that speaks powerfully to racism, inequality and the murder of identity and aspiration. It deals with bigotry that is more covert than plainly seen, more unspoken than verbalized, more systemic than random.

In short, it’s exactly the kind of book London needs to read and talk about.

London Public Library is leading the way here. We should hope that workplaces, service clubs, school boards, and post-secondary institutions follow with initiatives of their own, or campaigns that capitalize on the library’s expert guidance.

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